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Date: August 7, 1996

Title: New Jersey”s Finest Top 40/ One Call Medical

Many in the business community have found the managed-care revolution thoroughly disorienting. There are too many new companies to deal with, new routines to master, and new jargon to learn. But others have found that the same changes bring opportunity. Elizabeth M. Griggs is one such pathfinder. As chairman of Parsippany-based One Call Medical, Griggs has prospered by working a niche in the new health-care terrain.

One Call is a preferred provider organization that specializes in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cat scans (CT). Managed-care companies have found it cheaper to farm out certain benefits, contracting with specialty providers who offer those services, rather than trying to perform every procedure or test. One Call provides x-ray studies. Founded in February 1993 by Griggs and her husband Albert, One Call is positioned to exploit the growing workers” compensation market, which Griggs calls “an exciting market to be in, a $100 billion market in the U.S. and growing.”

Workers” compensation, which deals with employees” job-related injuries, was once a totally disorganized field in which workers sought medical care from any physician they chose. But an increasing number of states-18 by Griggs”s last count-have decided to allow employers to choose which health-care providers their workers use. This is what led Griggs and her husband, who has since left the firm to start up two other companies, to leave Boston and come to New Jersey, a so-called employer choice state.

Griggs”s background is in investment banking. She has held positions with Maryland National Bank, where she provided commercial banking services to health-care concerns such as hospitals and doctors” practices, and with Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette Securities in Boston. She kept her position with DLJ and worked nights and weekends while putting One Call together. One Call became a full-time job only last fall.

Griggs”s idea for her new company is summed up in its name. One Call, she says, doesn”t just hand clients a list of MRI providers where they can take injured workers. Ted Gilmore, the managed-care coordinator for workers compensation at Cigna in Wilmington, Del., explains how it works: “When one of our injured workers needs an MRI, the claim rep calls them, literally making one call. They make all the arrangements for the MRI or cat scan.” One Call schedules the test, makes sure the report is accurate, and gets the results to the doctor. Satisfied clients say it does this faster and cheaper than they were able to do themselves.

Gilmore says Cigna saves “from 40% to 60%” of what it was paying when it handled its own scans. Jeanne Wallis, a case manager for FCCI Mutual, a Florida workers” compensation carrier, says, “They were willing to go to any lengths to help us develop our own MRI network.” Says Wallis: “They do everything.”

Griggs doesn”t like to give specific numbers, but claims that One Call”s gross revenues grew 663% from December 1993 to December 1994, and 83% between December 1994 and 1995. She says, “This year we”re on target for revenue growth of 211%.” The company now operates in 30 states and has “between 100 and 200 employees across the country.”

The future will probably see further expansion of the network as well as added services. Griggs would like to start tracking patient outcomes-gathering evidence of which services get patients back to work soonest-for her clients. She is also looking into other types of networks her firm could build, such as physical therapy and orthopedic surgery.

One Call has yet to turn a profit, but will do so “imminently,” according to Griggs. “In three years.” she says. “That”s a pretty big accomplishment.” She attributes this success to mixing advanced information systems with an old-fashioned service ethic.

Griggs, when explaining her reluctance to part with earnings numbers, says, “We”re the leader now, but we”re not doing anything anyone else couldn”t do.” Maybe not, but don”t discount customer loyalty. Says FCCI Mutual”s Wallis: “They really are a wonderful company. They have bent over backwards to work with us.” That sounds awkward, but it makes the customers comfortable.